Rich Vana is Done With Entree Dallas

Rich Vana with some Grape guys, when he did a story about working there. The Kitchen Quixote series, sadly, will not be returning. (photo via entreedallas.com)

Since May 2010, Rich Vana has been the main editor, writer, and idea generator of Entree Dallas, a website devoted to feature-length stories about the Dallas dining scene. I know Rich personally and can vouch that he’s a good guy. His desire to add value and lift up our restaurant culture has always been admirable.

“Rather than focus on criticisms, reviews, and gossip, we instead wanted to bring a feature-focused publication to our readers – to tell the stories of Dallas’ restaurants from the chefs, servers, owners and artisans through their own words,” he wrote on Entree Dallas’ ‘about’ page.

After almost four good years being the editor, Rich posted a letter last Friday, February 28, announcing his departure from the food blogging world. He is putting his publication to the side and focusing his energies elsewhere, on a project That-Will-Not-Be-Named-Yet. “It was a fun venture, but it was really, really time consuming,” says the one-man writing show. “It could’ve been a sustainable living, but the amount of work that it required and the potential instability was always in the back of mind.”

Will he ever bring it back? That question remains unknown. Rich says, “This is probably it. we’re not going to take it down. The stories aren’t time-sensitive, so people can read them anytime. I’d never say never.”

Dear Readers,

After three years of what has been a wonderful ride following the course of Dallas culinary cuisine and seeing the path it has taken over that short time, it is with a degree of eager anticipation touched with a small sense of surrealism that I announce the cessation of story generation at Entree Dallas. Having been extended an opportunity that I have chosen to pursue outside of this industry, Entree will be left without its editor and primary contributor. The site will stay up for anyone willing to peruse its contents, and we’ll keep our social media pages active with what may end up being my personal food diaries, but the stories will by and large cease.

I want to extend a great thanks to our sponsors who believed in Entree enough to invest their time and resources into it, and of course to our readers, whose continued patronage of our site was no small source of pride for me personally.

And I thank the chefs and owners, without whose help there would have been no stories at all. I leave this page with a profound respect for everyone I spoke to and witnessed in the kitchens, butcher shops, bakeries and breweries among the many locations where these creators work. Most of all, I encourage our readers to delve into what they have to offer. Develop your own opinions and experience what these men and women have dedicated their time and effort, their creativity, and their immense talents to produce for you. I could never recreate it through words, and I feel no one can. This area has a sea of culinary talent, and feel I have as much to learn about it – and as many people left to meet in it – as I did when I started three years ago.

I hope Entree has been a fraction as rewarding to read for you as it has been to create for me. My deepest, sincerest thanks for your time and your readership. Verbose though I may sometimes be, I will refrain from trying to express through words how much it means to me.